No Updates on Prelude FLNG Restart

When asked about the restart of the Prelude Floating Liquid Natural Gas Facility (FLNG), a Shell spokesperson told Rigzone that the company does not have any updates to share at this point.

“We aren’t providing running progress updates on the restart of Prelude and will confirm when we are lifting cargoes,” the spokesperson said.

Last month, a Shell spokesperson confirmed to Rigzone that a fire was detected onboard the Prelude FLNG facility offshore Australia. In a statement sent to Rigzone back in December, a company spokesperson said production had been temporarily suspended and added that an investigation into the cause of the incident was underway.

Prelude FLNG has a production capacity of at least 5.3 million tons per annum (mtpa) of liquids - comprising 3.6 mtpa of LNG, 1.3 mtpa of condensate and 0.4 mtpa of liquefied petroleum gas - according to Shell’s website. The company holds a 67.5 percent interest in the facility, with INPEX holding a 17.5 percent stake, KOGAS holding a ten percent interest, and CPC holding a five percent stake.

Pacific Basin LNG Demand Remains Tepid

In a market note sent to Rigzone recently, Kaushal Ramesh, a senior gas and LNG analyst at Rystad Energy, stated that Pacific basin LNG demand has remained tepid through the winter, “with most major buyers having stocked up in advance for severe weather”.

“Even extended outages at QCLNG and Prelude FLNG, which have taken six cargoes off the market this year did not manage to inject any bullishness,” Ramesh added.

“The big unknown in this region is the reopening of China, but we expect energy demand to ramp up only later in the year, with lower cost sources of energy taking priority, which may limit upside to spot LNG demand,” the senior gas and LNG analyst continued.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com